Kaden enters a marine bar beneath the transit concourse, still wearing the damaged armor. The shoulder seal hisses with each movement, and the missing plate leaves the repair claim unresolved.
Veterans turn toward the former marine, but a Republic Intelligence officer reaches the bar first. She is a composed middle-aged woman with close-cropped gray hair, brown skin, and a charcoal field coat marked only by a silver data pin.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Marlowe. The veterans can wait. I have proof your arrest warrant is suspended, and authorization to expedite your armor service claim.
She places a sealed projector on the counter. It displays the warrant suspension, a priority repair order, and a Republic command signature that outranks the Alliance broker’s frozen payment decision.
the Republic Intelligence officer
You will also receive a substantial field payment for one deniable assault on a fortified syndicate facility. No Alliance escort, no public attribution.
The projector replaces the authorization screen with a satellite schematic: layered defenses, shielded approaches, and a target designation protected by Republic interests. Veyra, Krell, the broker, and the intake clerk remain behind at the outpost.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Failure reactivates the warrant immediately. Republic arrest authority becomes effective on confirmation, and every officer in this bar receives the order. Do you want the briefing?
✓ Quest Accepted
Complete the Republic's deniable assault
✓ Quest Accepted
Clear Kaden's Republic arrest warrant
“Ask about who the target is, and why Repub Intel is interested.”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Kaden Marlowe
Who is the target, and why is Republic Intelligence interested?
The Republic Intelligence officer studies him across the projector’s cold blue light, then expands the schematic. A fortified syndicate facility appears beneath an industrial moon’s surface.
the Republic Intelligence officer
The target is Orison Vault, a syndicate logistics citadel. Its director is Salvek Dorn, a former Republic procurement officer who vanished with military access codes.
The display isolates shield generators, drone hangars, and a buried communications spine. Red markers identify encrypted transfers moving through the facility toward an undisclosed buyer.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Dorn is selling those codes alongside reactor-routing data. Republic Intelligence needs the archive destroyed and the buyer records copied before the transfer leaves the system.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Officially, Orison Vault does not exist. Unofficially, its defenses were built with Republic specifications, which makes a public assault politically expensive.
She rotates the projector toward Kaden, revealing the field payment, an insertion corridor, and a recovery beacon keyed to his temporary Republic authorization.
“Who does Dorn have running security?”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled -1)
Kaden Marlowe
Who does Dorn have running security?
The officer enlarges Orison Vault’s internal command tree. One name sits above the drone hangars, shield stations, and armed response teams, tagged with a Republic tactical clearance.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Commander Ilyan Voss. Former Republic special operations, discharged after the Kharon pacification inquiry. Dorn recruited him for precisely the skills we taught him.
Voss’s profile resolves beside the facility map: a lean middle-aged man with a neural command rig, twelve years of counterboarding experience, and authority over every security layer.
the Republic Intelligence officer
He runs the perimeter through autonomous sentry grids, but he personally controls the inner response teams. If the archive breach registers, Voss will hunt the intruder instead of defending the servers.
the Republic Intelligence officer
Your cost is silence. I have to flag this briefing as an intelligence contact, which puts your suspended warrant under renewed review until the operation closes.
A new red notation appears beside Kaden’s authorization: monitored operational status. The schematic now identifies Voss’s command node, his patrol timing, and the facility’s blind approach beneath the western heat exchangers.
“What are my rules of engagement? Please tell me I can go scorched earth on these bastards.”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled -1)
Kaden Marlowe
What are my rules of engagement? Please tell me I can go scorched earth on these bastards.
The officer’s expression stays level, but the projector tightens its focus around Orison Vault’s reactors, drone hangars, and buried communications spine.
the Republic Intelligence officer
You may use lethal force against armed resistance. Destroy the archive after copying it, disable the facility’s military systems, and burn their weapons infrastructure.
the Republic Intelligence officer
No reactor breach, no deliberate civilian casualties, and no execution of personnel who surrender. Dorn and Voss are priority captures unless they force a lethal resolution.
She transfers the engagement authority into Kaden’s temporary Republic authorization. The order carries a live command signature, not a verbal promise.
the Republic Intelligence officer
That is as close to scorched earth as I can make legal. I am spending my clearance to authorize it, and the system will flag you as a monitored combat asset.
The insertion corridor unlocks on the schematic, revealing a western heat-exchanger approach and a recovery beacon keyed to Kaden’s authorization. His warrant remains suspended, but every Republic review now watches the operation.
“I enter Orison Vault through the western approach”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +1)